It might’ve been. We didn’t see the title and didn’t start watching until a few minutes after the second crash. About three minutes before the South Tower fell she asked me if any of the firefighters we were overhearing made it out. They were 70 floors up and didn’t have a clue the building was about to collapse, so there was no way.
Me too–they were just mentioning the first plane hitting as I pulled into the lot at work. Like up-thread, I thought it meant a tiny private plane and 
thinking how could they not miss the WTC? And then, yeah, it was just one announcement after another. and when they mentioned that people were jumping–oh my God. I thought my brother worked in the towers (he was actually in WTC 7) and was very very lucky to hear from him before the lines got overloaded. He was on the street when the plan hit and ran up- and across-town.
They set up TVs in the auditoria at work but I never watched any of the footage. I actually finally saw it when I went to see the movie The Barbarian Invasions a few years later, so the first time I saw it was in movie-screen size. I thought using only the audio in Fahrenheit 911 was very effective–being able to visualize what was happening based on the audio since it’s so branded in the mind. 
I’m currently working in a middle school, with sixth graders - they were generally born in 1997, so they were four years old at the time of the attacks. They’re probably the first group of kids with whom I will have worked who have absolutely no recollection of that day or of the period immediately following. To them, it will always be “history”.
It’s a very odd feeling, as I’m 29 now and was 22 on 9/11/01. I’m trying to put into words what I’m thinking, but it’s escaping me. The best I can do is this:
My parents’ generation, the Baby Boomers, many of them had the common, national experience of having seen JFK assassinated. That was something that those born of the subsequent generation (or at the tail end of the Baby Boom) only experienced as history. Younger members of Generation X (and kids younger still than Gen Xers) experienced the events of 9/11/01 as a “JFK moment”, if you will. To these kids, 9/11/01 is the same kind of history that JFK’s assassination is to me.
So, it kinda throws me when I realize that the children with whom I work now have no concept of the events 9/11/01 except as something that happened when they were small children, but that they can’t personally recall.
I hope that made some kind of sense.
Hey, Annie-Xmas, you should try and see this if you feel up to it - it seems from your postings that the events of that day still affect you - but do try and watch this - it should restore at least some of your faith in humanity amongst the horror.
I do. I staggered to work in midtown around 10 AM because I had to reschedule my business trip. I was supposed to fly out on 9/12. I was on the first flight to Texas on 9/13. Then I worked for an extremely busy law firm, but most people did not make it in on 9/12. I tried to keep myself busy for a few hours, but even the partners were calling it quits and leaving midday.
It was very strange, as the illusion of normalcy was gossamer thin. The conversations were almost strictly work-related, but every word took on strange significance because the disconnect between the importance of even pressing client matters and the dreadful current event was enormous.
I feel a little guilty because I’m inundated with “Antiterrorism/Force Protection” constantly, and these days blend into one another. Yesterday, I actually said to myself, “Oh, the flag is at half mast, I wonder why. . . Oh yeah.” I can’t believe I didn’t immediately remember. :smack:
I frequently remind myself that there are people out there with the intent and capability to do these things again. And I realize it’s not just limited to the United States. There are awful people out there who come up with ideas and put those ideas into action. I don’t like these people–there’s a time and form of war that makes sense. The wholesale slaughter elevates warfare to a whole new level in this day of age.
[French]
I was in Kuwait on my first deployment, and seven years later, I’m still in. Thankfully, I’m now at a school where I can directly get my hands into ‘the fight’, and render some of these asswipes limp-d*cked. But like I said before, I am constantly reminded of it. So I feel guilty I didn’t immediately connect, but then again, I’m reminded every day. . .
[/Pardon my French]
WILLASS, I have to agree–these extremists knew exactly how to hit us. It took them a few years, but they learned. And that’s the problem, is that we will never find all of them (especially when you tie it into religion, which transcends families and generations), and they will continue to adapt.
I do also agree with you that the IRA has been doing it for years, and it seems that Britain has just gotten used to it. I’m afraid the United States has as well. . . “the war” is just something that’s been dragging on for awhile. We’re complacent again.
Marley, there were, and still are a lot of us that didn’t cry. Hell, at Al Jaber (the base I was at), the mood wasn’t one of sadness, but more of a “roll up yer sleeves and lets get-it-done.” Same thing for me: I didn’t cry–oh Hell yes I was in shock–but I knew there was work to be done, and I was ready to get to it. It was such a momentous event, and add to that the fact that we were aware that SCUDs could/would be launching and arriving within 20 minutes, we didn’t really want to worry. S’okay. I know exactly what you mean.
But yep. I’m still doing what I can to prevent another 9/11-level event. I know we will never get Bin Laden, but he doesn’t matter–he’s just one man. But we can remove the training systems, the funding, the tangible items that give terrorists the capability. I hope and pray they take their intent and go a more peaceful route (we’ll never change their feelings) to address them, but I don’t see that happening soon. We don’t have the technology to instantly educate people.
This war will drag on, and will breed more terrorists. Again, not to be a conspiracy nut, but we need to think two or three steps ahead of the terrorist, and close those loopholes.
Tripler
Sorry, I’m down off my soapbox now.
Nobody will ever watch this. but they should.
A day or two afterwards. 
Thank you Struan.
Very powerful, and very moving.
I did.
I agree, it is worth watching.
Yeah, I have days like that. However, what I’d really love to see is the scumbag still alive, caught, and tried fairly under a presumption of innocence. No Gitmo-type stuff, no waterboarding, etc. And (for this little black duck), no death penalty if found guilty. But a fair trial, some excellent legal representation for him, and a strong message to the angry young men of the world of how decent people deal with these things.
Then find the shit guilty as fuck, of course.
That might be a problem. Obviously, we all know he did it, but the evidence is mostly circumstantial AFAIK.
It would be a lot less messy if they just blew up his cave or shack or whatever he’s living in.
And then I would stand and look up at it and wave…like this.(wiggles fingers)
Missed the edit window. I wanted to add the following…
For two days after 9/11/2001, when I went to work, I put an eight hour videotape in my VCR and set it to record MSNBC. I wanted to see any news I might miss at work. Of course there were lots of repeated segments, but there’s still some remarkable images captured. One of the spookiest was the video one person shot of the approaching dust cloud. They backed into a store with big glass windows, and if you look straight out it’s just a bright, sunny morning. Then this evil gray fog moves across the storefront, from left to right, like some ugly special effects from a horror movie. I half expected tendrils of the could to seep into the store and reach for those sheltering there.
I don’t want to forget, but I’m not ready to remember.
I can’t watch the movies, the videos, the documentaries. I’m just not ready yet. One day I will be, but it will probably be years.
I remember sitting in my chair almost numb staring at the TV on the evening of 9/11. CNN broke into a story about bombing in Afghanistan which was (unknown at the time) the Northern Alliance bombing Kabul. One of the reporters said that “It appears the United States is striking back.”
I jumped out of the chair screaming with glee. I’m not normally like that, but after watching what happened that day, I hoped we would turn the whole middle east into a parking lot. My emotions came back down later, but at that time it was the most base agression I have ever experienced. I was disappointed when CNN reported that it wasn’t us hitting back…